Germany moves to ban Paintball, Lasertag

[mrstickball]

fmc83 said:

mrstickball said:

Signalstar said:
Do we really want to encourage Germans to want to use guns?

Of course. That was the last thing Hitler wanted - an armed German populace.

 

 Sorry, but I must tell you that you seem to have no idea about Germany under Hitler.

After the 1st world war, different armed civil groups were fighting each other until the mid 20ies (The SA and the SS where just 2 out of many). And under Hitler Germany had probably the biggest percentage of weapons in the population.

When Hitler finally took over, he strongly encouraged being armed and taught even children in the Hitler Jugend (Youth) how to use different weapons from pistols to grenades.

So much for Hitler didn't want an armed population.

"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or native police. German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points must be evolved to cover the entire occupied country." --Adolf Hitler, dinner talk on April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitler's Table Talk 1941-44: His Private Conversations, Second Edition (1973), Pg. 425-426. Translated by Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens. Introduced and with a new preface by H. R. Trevor-Roper. The original German papers were known as Bormann-Vermerke.

Nazi Weapons Act of 1938 (Translated to English)

• Classified guns for "sporting purposes".
• All citizens who wished to purchase firearms had to register with the Nazi officials and have a background check.
• Presumed German citizens were hostile and thereby exempted Nazis from the gun control law.
• Gave Nazis unrestricted power to decide what kinds of firearms could, or could not be owned by private persons.
• The types of ammunition that were legal were subject to control by bureaucrats.
• Juveniles under 18 years could not buy firearms and ammunition.

Hitler also banned firearms in Nazi-occupied territories during the war. For example, Holland after conquest:

The Holland Poster banning guns (click for closeup). Citizens had 24 hours to surrender all firearms to the Nazis or face the death penalty. Printed in German on the left and Flemish on the right. For translation, see below. From Die Deutsche Wochenschau, May 15, 1940. (Photo by Moser + Rosié, Berlin)

Regulations on Arms Possession in the Occupied Zone

1. All firearms and ammunition, hand grenades, explosive devices and other war matériel are to be surrendered.
The delivery must take place within 24 hours at the nearest German military administrative headquarters or garrison, provided that other special arrangements have not been made. The mayors (heads of the district councils) must accept full responsibility for complete implementation. Commanding officers are authorized to approve exceptions.

(quoted from here)

Hitler wanted an armed Nazi population, thus offering training to Hitler Jugend, while banning firearm ownership of Jews and occupied territories. Not really consistent with an armed populace...Only armed people that were willing to die for Hitler.